"He's one of my buddies, and when he won it, it was almost like me winning it," Ibanez said Monday at Mariners spring training. "It was something special. I hadn't watched that much of the Series, so I didn't know how well he was doing."

The answer: very well, including a .400 batting average (6-for-15) with a team-high six runs scored and four driven in.

Ibanez and Lowell talked about it after the Series. Lowell has won World Series rings three times, with Boston, Florida (2003) and the New York Yankees (1998; he was not on the active roster as a rookie, but qualified for a ring nevertheless).

"I told him he should share, that all I want is one and I'd be happy after that," said Ibanez, the Mariners left fielder. "He told me, 'No you won't. When you get one, you want the next one more than ever.' But for now, I want the one."

Ibanez, 35, says he's on a team that gives him his best chance yet to make it to the World Series. The Mariners loaded up with pitching during the offseason, adding Erik Bedard and Carlos Silva, and Ibanez is excited by the thought that the rotation will keep the club in the game most days. That wasn't always the case last season.

"I've played on some good teams, but this one has a chance to be the best," Ibanez said. "I like what we've done, and I like the way we look. This is a good team."

Ibanez, who hit .291 with 21 home runs and 105 RBIs last season, is entering the final season of his contract. It's unknown whether the Mariners will let him play out the year and become a free agent, or do what they did two years ago and negotiate a contract extension during spring training.

Ibanez would like that, but he's not fixated on it. Again, he turns to Lowell's example.

"He's like me, just go out and prepare to do the best job you can," Ibanez said. "For him, at the end, he's the World Series MVP. And then he realizes, 'Oh, yeah, I'm a free agent.' "

Lowell, who's a year younger than Ibanez at 34, parlayed his strong season into a three-year contract extension with the Red Sox.

"I'll either be (extended) or I'll be a free agent," Ibanez said. "Either way, I'm getting ready to play baseball."

SPRING FLINGERS: Mariners manager John McLaren said he'd go with Opening Day starter Bedard to pitch the Cactus League opener Friday against the Giants in Scottsdale.

Bedard likely will throw two innings, though pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre will have his pitchers working on pitch counts more than innings pitched.

HEAD CASES: About half of the pitching staff Monday wound up with shaved heads -- or some version of shaved heads -- the result of losing a competition in defensive drills Sunday.

One of the losers, Rowland-Smith, showed up Monday with his head shaved only on top, so that when he put on his baseball cap, it looked as if he had a full head of hair. After Monday's workout, he had the rest shaved.

Sean White shaved his head all over, save for a swath down the back that made it look as if he was sporting a ponytail.

Reliever Anderson Garcia, who has bushy hair that faintly resembles Don King's, came to the park with nothing trimmed, but by day's end he had all the sides of his head cut to military specifications. The top of his head remained as bushy as ever.

NOTES: Jose Vidro was back at work Monday after leaving Sunday's workout after being hit on the left knee with a batting practice pitch thrown by Rowland-Smith. ... The Mariners took part in their first base running/sliding drills of the spring. Vidro was well enough that he took part in those, too. ... McLaren said he would sit down with a group of his veteran players and lay out his plan for clubhouse rules. He wants input from the players, but he also wants them to know what he expects. "If someone has a problem with something, I want to know about it," the manager said. ...

McLaren said he didn't envision a platoon in right field with newcomer Brad Wilkerson and another player. McLaren would like to use the same nine players most of the time, substituting as needed for rest. "I want to see how Brad fits in," McLaren said. In the case of the left-handed Wilkerson, the numbers say he hits better (.265) against left-handed pitchers than against right-handers (.245).

Against lefties, he has one homer every 25.75 at-bats, while against righties it's one every 24.47.